


caramel syrup

by maxxofbraavos



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Corporate, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Flirting, Boss/Employee Relationship, Coffee Shops, Dogs, Drinking, Drunken Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Homophobia, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Lots of drinking, M/M, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Office Party, Sexual Tension, Sylvix Big Bang (Fire Emblem), Winter, based on a tweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25948759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maxxofbraavos/pseuds/maxxofbraavos
Summary: Felix Fraldarius is an artist, barista, and dog walker to Sylvain Gautier, the COO of Margrave Turbine Company. One day, when Felix goes to pick up Sylvain's dog, Sylvain is home taking the day off... and he's much more personable than Felix had ever realized. After receiving an offer to interview at Sylvain's company Felix has no clue just where the wind will take him. This is the longest fic I've written since high school, I dearly hope that you all enjoy it. Thanks to my beta reader Cam, I couldn't have done this without you!MAJOR warnings for alcohol (it's in almost every chapter) and the f-slur used in Chapter 4.All based on this tweet by @SORDHAND on twitter: https://twitter.com/SORDHAND/status/1232494527954350081Art in collaboration with @pastamachine_ on twitter!For Sylvix Big Bang 2020.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 5
Kudos: 67





	1. peach

It took Felix about half an hour to get from his morning shift at the coffee shop to Sylvain Gautier’s brownstone. He’d been doing this five times a week for months now and he thought, maybe, the weird, awestruck jealousy he had would fade away… but it didn’t. Sylvain, as he insisted Felix call him in their few interactions, was really nice to him without fail. It was the circumstances that made him angry. According to Wikipedia, Sylvain Gautier, heir and current COO of the Margrave Turbine Company was only the ripe old age of 25, two years older than him. Felix lived in a shitty apartment with no room to breathe and Sylvain lived in the most gorgeous brownstone Felix had ever been in. In what way was that fair? 

Felix fished the key to Sylvain’s palace out of his jacket pocket. He kept his own keys on a carabiner, almost always looped on one of his belt loops aside from when he slept. Sylvain’s keys were on a lanyard that he’d provided Felix that had some vaguely familiar looking anime girls on it. He wasn’t one to judge the guy that paid him. He nudged the key into the lock and pushed the door open, instantly confused by the absence of noise. Bongo was quite the barker, he always fussed when Felix got to the house. With the door fully opened Felix realized what the silence was about—

There sat Sylvain Gautier, aforementioned COO of the Margrave Turbine Company, in plaid pajama pants on his couch with a Shake Shack burger in his hand and Bongo in his lap.

“Oh shit—” he barely got the words out with his mouth half-full; Felix watched as Sylvain struggled to force the under-chewed bite down his throat and sit up properly. “I totally forgot to tell you that I took today off, you don’t have to walk Bongo.”

“Well obviously.” Felix snapped. As soon as he’d spoken he realized that it had come out harsher than he wanted, but thought he had the right to be that way

“Hey, take it easy,” Sylvain said, relaxing back into the couch. “Why don’t you stay and hang out, it’s the least I can do since you came all the way here. Do you drink?”

Felix glanced at his watch. “It’s 1:30 in the afternoon, Mr. Gautier.”

“That’s not what I asked, is it? And call me Sylvain.”

“Well it’s 1:30 in the afternoon,  _ Sylvain.” _

“Please, really, it’s the least I can do.” Sylvain got up, without further prompting, and made his way toward his kitchen. Felix felt like he had no choice but to follow, he was admittedly curious about what the rest of this place looked like. Bongo almost always greeted him at the door, and if not he would be asleep on the couch. The place was eerily clean for being the home of a twenty-something year old dude and a long-haired dog. The couch didn’t ever seem to have dog hair on it, nor did any of the coats that hung by the entrance, and the floors were spotless concrete. He thought that maybe following Mr. Gautier- or Sylvain, he supposed- deeper into the cave would make him seem a little more normal. Felix followed him into his kitchen, which was unfortunately just as nice as he had originally imagined.The appliances all matched in monochrome colors, and there was even an island in the middle of it. The blender probably was worth the amount of money that Felix spent on a month of groceries. The knives had a matte finish and hung on a wall display that seemed to be magnetic. The fridge had a display screen. He felt a little bit disgusted. On the island there were various bottles of alcohol, cheaper brands than he had expected. Sylvain grabbed one and looked back at him. “So, do you drink, or do you want like, an iced tea or something?”

Felix had a choice to make here. He usually would never drink so early in the day, or really at all unless it was a special occasion. He considered himself fairly disciplined and he didn’t always love how he acted when he was drunk. But some reason (maybe it was spite) he said:

“Yeah, I’ll take a drink.”

Sylvain took to mixing, pouring a little bit of this and a little bit of that into a cocktail shaker. Felix couldn’t really tell what he was mixing, but for the sake of his job he would just down it, whatever it was. He poured the mystery beverage from its silver shaker into two tall glasses. Felix hesitantly took his glass from Sylvain, then took a sip. It was fruity. God, so fruity, this was a sorority girl’s drink? Felix resisted the urge to gag and shot his boss a confused look.

“What… is this? Don’t you drink… Old Fashioneds, or Manhattans, or something?”

Sylvain took a large gulp of his drink, leaving some warm-toned liquid dripping off of the corner of his mouth. “Absolutely not, that stuff tastes gross.” he said. “That’s a Sex on the Beach. The drink is way better than the real thing, trust me.”

“Well, I guess it is June.” Felix replied, ignoring Sylvain’s crude joke and venturing to take another sip. Sylvain smiled, beginning to lead Felix back to his living room. He reclaimed his former spot on the couch and Bongo scooted over to join him. Felix was under the impression that Sylvain wasn’t home often, at least during normal business hours, but the dog seemed to  _ love _ him.

“I knew you had a sense of humor. Come sit.” Sylvain motioned for Felix to sit on a chair perpendicular to him, and so he did, although cautiously. The seat was comfortable, a black leather armchair that you slowly sunk into when you sat down. But being here for such an extended period of time still made him uneasy. He took another sip of his fruity drink. 

“So what’s your deal?” Sylvain continued “Why do you spend your nights walking my dog when you’re clearly my age?”

“Why do you spend every day working in an office when  _ you’re  _ clearly  _ my  _ age?” Felix retorted.

“Touché.” He returned to his burger, taking a big bite to accompany the large swigs he continued to take of his drink. “Parents passion company got bigger than we expected. I wanted to do something a little more creative with my life, but they needed my brother and I to be a part of it. I can’t complain too much- it’s gotten me this gorgeous place, some pretty decent friends, and Bongo, actually.”

And now Felix felt a little bit bad. He was in the opposite situation, having branched away from his father’s ventures to pursue his artistic craft. He struggled for the last few years because of it, but he couldn’t imagine not having the option. 

“Your turn.” Sylvain insisted. “What’s your deal, elevator pitch.”

Felix chewed on his lip for a moment before answering. “I do metalwork but that doesn’t pay the bills, so I became a barista. That also doesn’t pay the bills so I also walk your dog. I’m more of a cat person but… he’s pretty alright.”

“Do you work full time as a barista?” Sylvain downed the rest of his glass, and it clearly wasn’t the first. His face was flushed red, almost the same color as his hair. Felix nodded a yes to him and Sylvain started to look a bit more puzzled. He could see the wheels turning in his head as he attempted to vocalize whatever thought he was having. 

“You don’t even get to… do anything else?” 

Felix couldn’t help but to laugh; at the awkwardness of this situation, the sadness of it, and the utter obliviousness of Sylvain. Did he not hang out with other people? He worked full time also, he had to know how hard it was to do things you want to by the time you get home. Why else would he have stayed home in his pajamas today?

“I mean, I do.” Felix said. “My shifts are pretty early, and then I come here when I’m done. I can usually make it home and sometimes I can work on personal projects after I eat dinner. I stay up late a lot.” His drink was nearing its end, too. He hadn’t thought about how much of it he had actually drank. He suddenly felt a familiar buzz in his head, but did his absolute best to suppress it. 

“You don’t seem like you like it. Your job, I mean.”

“I don’t. Who does?”

And there was the awkward silence. It was short but it felt much longer, like all time had stopped outside of the apartment. They were both looking away for a few moments before they eventually locked eyes. Felix looked at Sylvain sheepishly while Sylvain looked back with sympathy. Felix felt closer to Sylvain somehow, though he couldn’t pinpoint why. 

“Well why don’t we get you a better job? My office is bound to have an opening somewhere, come in and interview.”

“That’s really nice of you and all but you’re drun-- I mean, I could never accept that, really.”

“No, please!” Sylvain pushed himself to his feet, making his way up the central stairs with purpose. Felix sighed, sitting back in his chair. He hated his job at the coffee shop most of the time-- he had to smile at too many people, comply with too many ridiculous demands, open at the crack of dawn-- but it was steady and it had been in his life since college. He barely knew what Sylvain did professionally, and he had no idea if he was ready to try to do that himself. Nonetheless, his boss returned with a business card, flicking it at him like a cheap magician. “Take the weekend, think about it, and if you want to come in you should just text that number and we’ll be ready for you. That’s the phone number for our intern, Annette. She’s a fast texter.”

Felix read the card over once before sliding into his wallet. He cleared his throat and pushed himself to his feet.

“I’m gonna head home now, but… thanks for the drink, Sylvain.”

He had a grin on his face and looked very pleased with himself .

“When you decide to come in, let me know and I’ll venmo you for coffee.”

Felix scoffed and headed for the door, attempting to wipe the smile off of his own face.


	2. hazelnut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix has an interview at Sylvain's office! How will he do ?

Felix let the idea of working for Sylvain Gautier stew in his mind for longer than he would have liked. On the train home he tried to listen to music as per usual, but instead he found his mind drifting off into some weird corporate fantasy. If he got a job with a real company, with a contract, his income would be steady. He wouldn’t have to worry so much about making rent or random schedule changes. He could work 9-to-5, he could probably even sleep later than he did now. He wasn’t the biggest fan of going corporate, but for a few years it could help, just until he found a way to make art his career.

When he got home, he cooked dinner. Afterwards, when he laid down to try and sleep, the interview offer loomed over him. His bare ceiling seemed to be an endless abyss that only led to hours of confused tossing and turning with cryptic dreams to follow. Trouble followed him into his shift the next morning. He was never one for sweets, or almost never (just like alcohol) but he craved it today. As he set up the shop to open this Saturday morning, he found himself adding a little bit of caramel syrup to his iced coffee. By the end of that slow, lonely shift, Felix found himself pulling out a familiar business card on his subway ride to Sylvain’s apartment.

It took him the whole ride to compose the message. ‘Hi’ or ‘Hey’ was way too informal. ‘Hello’ felt stupid and robotic, so he eventually settled on ‘Good Evening.’ When he resurfaced on the street, he copied the message over from his notes and sent it to the number on the business card.

_ Good Evening, Annette. My name is Felix Fraldarius and I recently spoke with Mr. Gautier about interviewing for a position at your office. I would love to come in as soon as possible. I’m available during the week from 2:00 onwards to come in. Thank you.  _

For all the time he spent writing papers in college, it was embarrassing how long it took him to feel comfortable with those few sentences. The reply came quickly and he read it as he searched for the keys to Sylvain’s door.

_ Hey Felix! You’re Sylvain’s dog walker, right? He said you’d be contacting me. You can come in on Monday around 3.  _

So maybe he  _ could _ have said ‘hey?’ He slipped into Sylvain’s apartment and shut the door behind him before replying. Bongo was thrilled to see him, greeting him at the door with a wagging tail and affectionate licks. 

_ Fantastic, I’ll see you then. Who will I be interviewing with, and how do you all take your coffee? _

_ You’ll interview with Ingrid. Kiss up approach will totally work here, everyone’s a sucker. This is on Sylvain, right? I’ll get everyone’s orders and text them to you on Monday. Thanks!!! _

And that was that, he supposed. He got Bongo into his harness, attached his leash, and took him on a long, long walk. 

Monday came quickly. He had to wake up extra early for his Monday shift. He found himself rising before the sun did, hunting around for the perfect business-casual outfit for the interview. He didn’t love coming in as ‘Sylvain’s dog-walker,’ but a clean look and some good coffee should do all the difference. He settled on a blue dress shirt that worked well with his skin tone and some corporate-friendly slim-fit pants. He kept his daily music fix nice and calm during his commute and as he set up the shop for the day he felt his phone buzz familiarly in his pocket. Lo and behold, Sylvain had sent him some money on venmo with four coffee orders. It was a little bit hefty for just four drinks, but Felix wouldn’t complain, that was for sure. He worked his shift with Dorothea, another manager who was a senior in college studying music. She was nice, and although Felix thought that he worked best alone, she wasn’t bad to have around. Ten minutes before he planned to clock out, Felix started on the drinks he had to bring to the office. Dorothea eyed him transferring orders from his phone to the sides of cups. 

“Going somewhere?” she brushed past him towards the espresso machines. They only met eyes for a brief moment, but something about her just made you want to tell the truth. In all of his time working with her, Felix could never figure out why. 

“Yes, actually.” The first drink was an iced caramel macchiato, for someone named Ashe. Felix scooped out some ice to start making it. “I have a job interview after my shift.” 

“No, really?” Dorothea looked over at Felix inquisitively as she wiped down the counter absent-mindedly. 

“Yes, really.” Felix nodded.

“Well hopefully you’ll be nicer to them than you are to me, Felix.”

“What’s  _ that  _ supposed to mean?” The macchiato practically made itself given how many times he’d made them while working here. The next drink was for Annette, the receptionist that Sylvain had him text. She wanted a peach tea, which seemed on-brand to Felix from their minimal interaction. After plopping the macchiato into a 4-drink holder, he started on the tea. “This is as nice as I really get, Dorothea.”

“What company is your interview with? Are you gonna get to do your art?” She brushed Felix’s comment off, likely used to his bullshit by now.

“Margrave Turbines, they have a New York office.” Felix shook the peach tea, blending the necessary mix, water, ice, and sugar syrup. “Probably no art, though. I highly doubt it.”

“Mm, that sucks.” Dorothea pouted. “Don’t you walk dogs for the Margrave Turbines guy already?”

The third drink is a plain iced coffee with cream for Ingrid, his interviewer. Felix could make that with his eyes closed if he wanted to. “Yeah, he’s uh, one of the higher ups, apparently. He recommended me for the position so I’m hoping I’ll get something with less hours and more pay.”

Dorothea glanced up as the bell on the door rang, signaling that another customer was entering the shop. “Aren’t we all?” she muttered, waving the customer toward the counter. She stood near the register, which let Felix know that she would take care of the order on his behalf.

The last drink was for Sylvain. Felix sighed in exasperation as he checked his phone and actually saw the order. It read ‘ _ Something I’ll like :D - Sylvain. _ ’ Of course he had to be that guy. Felix made him a hazelnut frappe and shoved it into the container before clocking out. He nodded at Dorothea on his way out the door. 

The Margrave Turbines office was somewhere in between the shop and Sylvain’s residence, and with tourism to the city currently down, the commute was quick and mostly painless. The building the office was in wasn’t nearly as intimidating as Felix had dreamt. It was a medium sized building with lots of big glass windows on all of the sides. Margrave was on the eighth floor, so after being buzzed into the building and signing in at the front lobby’s desk, Felix took the elevator up. The doors opened up to a large office space flooded with natural light. The space was open, not crowded with lots of tiny cubicles like you always saw on tv, and he could see all of the furniture from wall to wall. Closest to the entrance sat a red-haired girl behind a wooden receptionist’s desk that was a little too big for her. She glanced up at Felix with a wide smile. 

“You must be Felix!” The girl stood up and reached over her desk to shake his hand. Precariously, he freed one hand from the drink holder and gave her a light handshake. “It was so nice of you to bring us all drinks.” she added. 

“It was no problem.” Felix replied. “I’m assuming you’re Annette?”

She nodded, so Felix handed her drink to her. He watched as she took a long sip and sighed happily. “You can find Ingrid down that way, I can take Ashe and Sylvain’s stuff off your hands.” Annete took the drink holder from Felix’s hands, leaving Felix to grab Ingrid’s iced coffee and bring it to her. He wasn’t nervous. He thought he was, or at least he thought that he would be, but now he was eerily calm. It had been years since Felix had interviewed for a  _ real _ job, whatever that meant, but this felt like it. With his chin up, Felix headed towards Ingrid. She was taller than Annette by a longshot but not quite as tall as he was. She was dressed conservatively considering the summer heat, and had a long blonde braid that went down her back. 

“Ingrid, I do marketing. You’re Felix.” She shook his hand firmly.

“Yeah, Felix Fraldarius. Here’s your coffee.”

“Oh,” she took it from him, looking almost surprised that he brought the coffee which she had ordered and Sylvain had paid for. “Thank you. Please sit.” Ingrid gestured for him to take the chair opposite her.

Felix took his seat, keeping his back up as straight as possible. 

“So, I’m not sure what Sylvain told you you’re interviewing for, but the office is actually in dire need of something else.”

“He didn’t actually tell me what position he was looking for, he just said there was, uh ‘bound to be something.’”

Ingrid laughed under her breath, shaking her head. “Yeah, that sounds like him alright. Luckily, we actually do need someone at this location right now. Sylvain is really important here, as I’m sure you know, but he’s pretty easily distracted.” She glanced over at a walled off office space, likely his, then looked back at Felix. “Ashe has to run out for him a lot, so we’re looking for someone to be Sylvain’s official assistant, run for his lunches, entertain his tangents, keep him on schedule, and the like. Did you bring a resume?”

Felix reached into his bag and slid out his resume, printed on the shitty HP he had in his living room. He handed it to Ingrid and she looked over the paper for what felt like an incredibly long minute to Felix. She was silent and showed no facial expression as she looked it over, giving Felix his first real moment of anxiety since his arrival. 

“We can offer you $22 an hour, we don’t work weekends and Sylvain always pays for lunch if you want to order something.”

That was more money than he made now and he’d never come in on a weekend again. Felix stuck his hand out to shake hers again.

“Done.”

Ingrid shook his hand with a faint smile. “Do you wanna go in there and tell him? I’m sure he’d be happy to see you.”

“Eh, sure.”

Felix walked cautiously towards Sylvain’s corner office, stopping in front of the door. This was the only fully private space within the office. His nerves returned, although he wasn’t sure why. He had just secured a job that would be better for him, he could put in his two weeks at the shop and he would never get screamed at by a millennial vegan about sustainability in the store he didn’t own or stock ever again. He should have felt unequivocally happy, but his stomach still twisted. He knocked on the door and soon heard the familiar voice of Sylvain Gautier inviting him in. 

The office was professional, but clearly lived in. It was similar to what he’d seen of Sylvain’s home in that it was neat but very clearly his. There were little touches of him here and there that Felix could cross reference from his home. On a bookshelf he spied the Lord of the Rings trilogy hidden between binders of company documents, and there were a few pictures of him and-- it looked like Ingrid, who interviewed him, but he couldn’t be sure-- hung up on the wall alongside his diploma and certificates. His desk had lots of trinkets, too, most of which Felix couldn’t identify. 

“So how’d it go?” Sylvain prompted. “Do I need to find a new dog walker?”

Felix almost laughed, but instead a soft smile graced his face. “Yeah, I think so. Ingrid said you need an assistant, so here I am.” He spied the frappe he’d made earlier, now half empty. “Did you like it, by the way?”

“Did I like wh-- oh, the drink! Yeah, it’s  _ super  _ good. I love hazelnut. Although I had no idea that they were looking to hire a personal assistant for me. I guess  _ you  _ should start looking for a new dog walker then. When are you starting?”

“I have to put in a resignation notice at the coffee shop, so in a week or so. They’re gonna be upset that I’m leaving but that’s on them. I’m gonna text the owner about it tonight.”

Sylvain nodded, taking a long sip of his frappe. “Stay in touch with Annette, we’ll set up a desk space for you. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you then?” He looked at Felix in a way that he couldn’t quite understand. No one had looked at him that way before. Sylvain seemed confident, but something else clearly lurked beneath. He disliked how long he had taken to ponder this mid-conversation, and he forced the thought out of his mind. 

“I’ll see you then.” he replied. 


	3. mocha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Halloween in the office this time... what to wear, what to wear......

They say that if you love what you do for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life. Felix worked the vast majority of days at the Margrave Turbine Office. Sylvain was the most needy, annoying, and indecisive man Felix had ever met. Almost every day, without fail, he texted Felix (despite his desk being right outside of his office) to decide what he should order for lunch.It took very little for Sylvain to get caught up playing his Switch or doing online shopping instead of actually doing his work. He needed such acute, specific motivation to do literally anything, but once Felix figured out how to remedy that, Sylvain became much easier to manage.

The rest of the office thought him a wizard, after a month of being Sylvain’s assistant he had become more their boss’  _ aide de camp _ than anything else. Sylvain seemed to actually listen to him, not just nod and say ‘yes’ when they spoke. With that, Felix figured out how to use himself as a motivator for his boss. The cure to his executive dysfunction was to allow Sylvain to play his games, getting off track pretty often, but to only play back sparingly. The key was to get Sylvain to desperately want you to follow his lead and engage with whatever he was fixating on, and then to use that as a bargaining chip to get him back to work. It was a delicate balance that only Felix could manage. He even flirted with Felix more often than not, and Felix didn’t mind, given that Sylvain was not only rich by birth, but incredibly handsome. Not that Felix would never let him know that he thought so. As much as Sylvain flirted, he never flirted back. Well maybe not never… but rarely. As corny and insufferable as he was, Sylvain was very charming; he had cool interests, hobbies, and he was an excellent talker. Maybe if they weren’t coworkers, he thought (sometimes, very late at night) he could pursue him. That was never a thought he was able to address, but when they locked eyes from across Sylvain’s desk or brushed hands his inner teenager that would have died to date a guy like him yearned for more. On a rare occasion, on a Friday before a long weekend, he would let his hair down metaphorically and wear his shirt slightly unbuttoned, or return one of Sylvain’s winks. Although it felt somewhat shameful, it was exhilarating to be in what felt like some sort of scandalous office flirtationship. 

As the seasons changed and the evenings got cooler, Margrave did very well for itself. Stocks went up and whispers were exchanged across the office about a celebration being in order. Felix wasn’t surprised when he found an invitation to an office Halloween party on his desk. It was handwritten by Sylvain in his oddly flowery handwriting on an orange-tinted piece of stationary. It boasted an ‘ultra exclusive’ invitation to a costume party two weeks from now, on October 30th, right here in the office. After the words ‘costume party’ was an asterisk, directing the gaze to a note at the bottom of the card which said that costumes were, in fact, required. The invitation also boasted an open bar and catering from a local sushi restaurant. 

Without really thinking about it, Felix found himself in Sylvain’s office to protest. 

“Are you really going to make me wear a stupid costume to the party?”

“Nobody said that you  _ had _ to come, Felix.” Sylvain said, not missing a beat. “But you  _ should _ , in which case yes, you will have to wear a costume.”

“I’m not wearing a costume.”

“Then don’t come.” he mused. “See how much I’ll care.”

Felix laughed lightly, shaking his head.

“Okay, you’re right.” Sylvain admitted. “Of course I would care. Maybe I just really wanna see you in a cute costume.”

“Oh, fuck off.”

It was Sylvain’s turn to laugh now as Felix got just a little bit flustered. Felix hated that Sylvain could catch him off guard, but he could tell that Sylvain lived for those moments. He seemed dumb sometimes, but in reality, Sylvain was always calculating. He took his desires seriously and didn’t mind going out on a limb to get what he wanted. For that, Felix admired him. Secretly. 

“I’ll be there.” Felix conceded. “Just don’t expect me to match you or anything like that.”

From that moment on, Felix found himself more and more preoccupied with the thought of this party. In bed at night he found himself on Pinterest looking at casual costume inspiration. Most of what he found was for cis women and was too unoriginal for even him. Over the weekend, when he usually would be working on personal projects now that he could subsist on working one job and selling his work on Etsy, he instead found himself on the train over to Manhattan to go to a real costume shop. 

Bells rang as he walked into the shop. New York Costumes was gigantic. He had been in here a few times prior, but not for a couple years now; his last visit was during his freshman year of college to find a costume for a Halloween party thrown by a girl in his Intro to Painting class. It was really crowded in her apartment, a bunch of older girls hit on him thinking he was straight, and he puked tequila off of a balcony. It took him months to touch a drink after that party, and even longer to go to any event for more than ten people. His social life got better year by year, but not much. To this day he barely drank more than one or two cocktails at an event at most. He did, however, learn to like Halloween again. He did enjoy the horror genre though, so the movie marathons on television were always welcomed throughout October. And though it had been a few years since he’d put a Halloween costume together, he felt confident that he would be able to manage to find something today. 

The first employee to greet him was a small girl with white hair. She was younger than him, maybe a senior in high school at best, and was wearing pink colored contacts that Felix presumed they sold somewhere in the store. 

“Hi, do you need help with anything?” The girl’s voice was cheerful, but Felix could easily tell that it was fake; it was her customer service voice. He knew her pain.

“No, I’m good, thanks.”

“Let me know if you need anything.” the girl’s voice trailed off as she turned on the heel of her boot and left, heading back towards the counter. Felix set off on his quest to find the perfect low-effort (or as low effort as actually going to a costume store was) costume for this party. A lot of the ‘basic’ items were parked towards the main entrance of the store; there were cat ears, witch hats, Scarecrow-brand vampire fangs… all of the things that Sylvain would roast him for wearing to that office party. He moved further into the store, finding specific sections for different themes- popular tv shows, films, monsters, animals. There were costumes and props as far as the eye could see. Eventually, after what felt like ages of meandering Felix stumbled across a section that he liked a little too much: the pirate section. Costume stores had pirate sections? Upon brushing his hand over a foam scimitar, his mind was suddenly flooded with ideas. He could to this dumb office party with  _ a real sword _ . Metalwork was the love of his life, he had tons of blades in his apartment from past projects. With the right shirt, the right boots, the right hat, he could smoke everyone else in that office. His competitive spirit took control of his hands and suddenly, his basket was filled with supplies. When he made his way up to the checkout counter, the girl who had originally greeted him gave him a charged look.

“I see that you found what you needed.”

“Yeah.” Felix said quietly, suddenly feeling self conscious about the childish array of items he had collected. To him they meant potential, both for a great costume and a great night, but to her it likely would become the punchline of a joke with friends. It made him feel unusually bad for a few moments, but his normal thought process quickly returned. He paid for his items with a debit card and was on his way home quickly after that. 

After work each day leading up to the party, Felix added a few finishing touches to his costume. With some ageing and detailing on the hat, some earrings and accessories found at a local thrift shop, and some incredibly tall boots shipped with Amazon Prime, his work was complete. While the ride to the office on the day of the party was incredibly awkward, he felt confident when he arrived. 

It was weird to see the office out of its normal order. Desks had been rearranged into a larger table that held an array of sushi, as promised, as well as a variety of other Halloween-themed snacks. At a table in the corner stood a man dressed in all black, currently shaking a cocktail shaker and talking to Ashe. The decor was subtle but cute, featuring lots of bat garlands and fake jack-o-lanterns. People who usually never interacted were mingling with eachother, but Felix didn’t know if he was ready for that quite yet. Instead, he headed over to the sushi table and got himself some dinner. He wandered around for a little bit, chatting with Ingrid for a little while before he realized that things were a little bit too peaceful.

“Hey, Ingrid,” Felix fidgeted with chopsticks anxiously, though he wasn’t sure why, “Where’s Sylvain? Isn’t this party his thing?”

Ingrid checked her watch pensively and then looked to the bathroom. “He went into the bathroom to get into costume a few minutes before you got here. I think he’s been setting the office up all day, he was a little tipsy when I arrived and I got here first.”

“Oh boy.” Felix sighed. “Do you know what the costume is?”

“I dunno, it’s some anime thing.”

His heart skipped a beat. He had talked to Sylvain about their common interests before, and while their taste wasn’t exactly the same, Sylvain had introduced him to some really interesting series. Listening to Sylvain talk about the things he loved was the most endearing thing you could do while spending time with him.

And just like that, he busted out of the men’s room. Felix could barely comprehend what he was seeing: a teal wig haphazardly covered Sylvain’s hair, with two pigtails hanging down to his knees. A grey tunic and black skirt were both oddly shaped on him, but the blue tie hung all the way down to his waist. Black boots and detached sleeves covered chunks of the skin that would otherwise be left exposed. Felix watched as Sylvain’s eyes haphazardly scanned the room.

“Felix Fraldarius, why don’t you have a drink in that hand?” 

The room was silent for a moment before the normal chatter returned. Sylvain was quickly crossing the office and heading towards him. By the time Felix looked back to Ingrid she was nowhere to be seen. When Sylvain got close he felt even taller than usual, leaving Felix eye-level with his collarbone.

“Why are you dressed like Hatsune Miku, Sylvain?”

“You answer first.”

“I just got here, I promise you that I will have a drink. You, on the other hand…” Sylvain was clearly buzzed, but his hands were both empty. “Where are you hiding yours?”

Sylvain lifted up the corner of his skirt, revealing a flask sheathed to his thigh. 

“Has anyone told you that you might have a problem?”

“Shut up, Felix. Come do a shot or something.” Sylvain grabbed his hand with intent and led him to the bar. “Two, uhh,” Sylvain looked down at Felix again, staring at his costume before turning back to the bartender, “Coconut rum shots.” The bartender got to work, leaving Sylvain another moment to talk to Felix. “And to answer your first question, I’m dressed like Miku because I had to top last year’s costume. Annette is creeping in on my title. I like yours though… pirate?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

The bartender placed two shots on the table. Sylvain picked them both up and handed one to Felix. He clinked glasses with him before throwing the shot back with ease. Felix didn’t really do shots. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d done one, but after seeing Sylvain do it, he felt the urge to impress him. He took the shot in one burning gulp which left him coughing afterwards. Sylvain laughed, clapping Felix on the back.

“I really didn’t think you’d do it,” he said, “I’m proud of you.” Sylvain took his flask out and took a sip, smiling lazily. “And how much did the costume store charge you for that sword, by the way? I can’t stop looking at it, it looks so…  _ real _ .”

A smirk graced Felix’s lips. His time to shine. 

“It is real.”

“ _ It’s real?”  _ Sylvain’s eyes lit up and he slowly crouched down to look at the blade on Felix’s hip.

“Hey, hey, don’t do that.” Felix said, tapping his shoulder so that he would stand up again. Luckily, he got the hint, and stood. “I’ll just take it out.” He unsheathed the blade, holding it out for him and Sylvain to admire. Smug, he gave it a spin or two, careful not to hit any furniture or party guests. “Wanna hold it?” Felix tilted the sword sideways, offering the hilt to Sylvain. Sylvain took it very carefully and held it in front of him with two hands. 

“So where did you get it then?” Sylvain asked. “You never struck me for a Ren Faire type of dude.”

“I made it,” Felix replied. “I would actually love to sell at the Renaissance Faire someday, though.” He continued to watch as Sylvain marvelled at his work, even striking a pose with it. For the first time in years, a real sense of artistic pride washed over him. “I’ll take a White Russian.” He leaned against the bar table, enjoying his current feelings of superiority. 

“This is--” Sylvain stopped to hiccup-- “Really fucking cool, Felix. I had no idea.” He handed the blade back to Felix, who sheathed it. “You sell them, too?”

Felix picked his White Russian up from the bar, taking a small sip and blushing. “I do, actually, although I haven’t made anything of this size lately. Here, I’ll show you.”

He took out his phone to show Sylvain his Etsy page and that’s when the party truly began. They drank the night away with rum, whiskey, and tequila, earning some concerned looks from the bartender every once in a while. At half past eleven they found themselves in Sylvain’s office, closed off as usual, just talking. Sylvain sat in his desk chair while Felix sat on top of the desk, facing him. Trinkets and pens were all pushed to the sides so that Felix could sit cross-legged with his sword dangling off the front of the desk, safely behind him. Sylvain was wrecked, they both were, but him more so, words slurring together. 

“I c-can’t believe you went through that,” Sylvain mumbled. “My family’s fucked up ‘nd all… but I don’t think we could’ve survived something like that.” 

Felix topped off his current drink and placed the glass down next to him, nodding. The world was a little bit blurry around him, and he felt sort of spaced out, but he wanted to keep the conversation going. “It was really hard, I was young, but I’ve grown sort of numb to it now.”

“No, no!” Sylvain interrupted. He reached out and grabbed the sides of Felix’s arms. His hands felt cool compared to Felix’s low-alcohol-tolerance burning. “You’re so strong, Felix. Aaand not just b’cause of that, like  _ all  _ the time, when--” he hiccupped, “ever we talk I can  _ see it _ . It’s what made me--” another hiccup, “Fall in love with you.”

Did he hear that right? He couldn’t have. There’s no way Sylvain felt that strongly about him. Not a chance. “Sorry Sylvain, what did you just say?”

“I  _ said  _ it’s what made me fall in--” Sylvain’s words abruptly stopped as he keeled over. His body jerked a few times before, to Felix’s horror, he puked. Felix jumped back as quickly as he could in his impaired state, while the desk and rug took most of the damage, Felix’s pants were not left unscathed. He sat there in a moment, shocked, before the experience quickly began to sober him.

“Alrights, let’s, uh,” it had been a long while since Felix had been in a situation like this, and he hadn’t a clue what he was supposed to do, “Let’s go to the bathroom and get you cleaned up. Are you… okay?”

“Yeah…. Yeah.” Sylvain slurred. Felix gave him a hand and helped him to his feet. Together, they trudged across the office to the bathroom. 


	4. chocolate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The weather outside is frightful. Time for a business trip. F-slur and violence in this chapter.

When Felix woke up on Halloween he couldn’t remember a thing. His head pounded, his clothes were dirty, and his throat was bone dry. He didn’t remember when he got home, or how. He reached to his nightstand, where he usually kept his phone, and found nothing. Only after he dragged himself to the kitchen to find Advil did he realize his phone was right there in his pocket the whole time. He had a few notifications, not many of interest besides his message from Sylvain:

_ Ingrid called me this morning and told me that I puked on you?? I don’t remember it so I can’t tell if she’s kidding or not, but sorry regardless.  _

Well that explained his pants, which he was carefully peeling off in the middle of his kitchen.

_ It’s okay, we have a laundromat right across the street from my building. Also… I don’t remember it either. _

_ What a team we make huh _

Felix would continue to not remember exactly what happened for quite a while. Business went back to usual in their office, and although Sylvain had definitely become closer to him after that night. Everything else seemed the same, until one day, when Felix came into Sylvain’s office for lunch and he was drinking a White Russian with his sandwich. One whiff of Kahlua forced the memories of the party back into his head, and with detail this time. They drank themselves half to death in this office at the Halloween party. They had talked about anime, and fate, and Felix was pretty sure he’d even told Sylvain about Glenn. And then Sylvain said he was in love with him. And puked. 

For the sake of his job, it was Felix’s priority to keep his knowledge of what had happened a secret from Sylvain. Luckily, he was a decent enough actor. He continued to go in every day, to eat and lightly flirt with Sylvain as if everything was normal, but once he got home things were different. The longer he went without talking about it, the more restless he got. He found himself up late watching shitty romance reality shows and tiredly wishing that it could be the two of them, only to bury the thought in caffeine on Monday morning. The days in New York got shorter and colder as winter took full effect. One day at the end of November, Sylvain texted Felix to come into his office before he left. His stomach was in knots instantly. He knows. He remembers. He has to… he must, right?

At five o’clock Felix went into Sylvain’s office, hands shaking at his sides. Sylvain was at his desk like usual, typing something on his laptop.

“Hey,” he said, not looking up, “What are you doing the second week of next month?”

The second week of next month? What?  _ Why?  _ So he didn’t know after all, or at least he didn’t know yet, or maybe he already did, but he just wasn’t saying anything. “Uh, nothing, I think. Why?”

“I’m going to Minnesota to check up on headquarters while my parents are in Bali for the month. I want you to come with me. Y’know, for work.” He winked.

“So I’ll get paid for it?”he countered, trying to seem clever and smooth. But Felix wanted to scream. He wanted to jump right out the window of the building. Just the thought of travelling with him made him anxious and excited all at once. 

“I said work, didn’t I? Full pay plus we get to stay in a cool Airbnb. I just booked it.” Sylvain turned his laptop around, grinning. On the screen was a booking confirmation for two people at an incredible bougie-looking log cabin in Minnesota.

“I guess I’m going then.”

“Bring a jacket, it’s real cold up there. I’ll come pick you up the Sunday we’re leaving, flight’s on the company card so don’t worry about it.”

And he did pick him up. T 6 PM on the dot on the Sunday Sylvain was in an Uber, double-parked in front of his apartment building. They flew together to Minnesota and shortly arrived at the most lavish cabin Felix had ever seen in person. Tomorrow they were to go oversee operations and meet with Sylvain’s brother, Miklan. Sylvain slept on the pull-out couch so that he could sleep in the bed. Sylvain fell asleep quickly, mumbling nonsense in his sleep. It took Felix a little bit longer despite his exhaustion, but the bed was just so big and comfortable, and he ended up in a deep, deep sleep. 

When he woke up the next morning Sylvain was gently shaking his shoulder. 

“Hey, sleepyhead. I didn’t wanna wake you up too early but we have to leave soon.” He sounded so gentle, unlike the dramatic Sylvain he had always known. Felix rubbed his eyes tiredly, then opened them to his boss above him in a dark blue suit. The shirt, the tie… it all looked amazing together, perfectly fitted. Felix could barely believe it. 

“Wow, you look good.” His words came off as snarky despite his exhaustion. He rolled out of bed. He felt severely underdressed and scrambled to the bathroom to get ready before Sylvain could even thank him for the compliment. The thanks came through the bathroom door instead.

“Thank you-” The happiness in his voice made Felix a little bit sick. “We have to leave in 20 minutes or so, I’m gonna swing through the Dunkin drive-through on the way there for breakfast.”

“You want me to drink that coffee?”

“Well I’m not gonna force you, but I’m paying.” Sylvain’s footsteps trailed away from the bathroom. Felix sported a similar business casual outfit to Sylvain’s. A car with the Margrave symbol on the side was parked in their driveway, keys stuffed into the cabin’s mailbox. Felix didn’t ask questions, he could connect the dots. As promised, Sylvain brought them to a Dunkin, pulling up to the window. 

“We’ll take two sausage, egg, and cheese croissants, a medium frozen chocolate, and-” Sylvain looked at him and mumbled- “What do you want to drink?”

“Just an iced coffee, Syl.”

“Don’t you want caramel, I thought you liked caramel?”

He stopped, conflicted. He put caramel syrup in his coffee when he was happy. He guessed Sylvain noticed. “Yeah, sure.”

“And a medium caramel iced coffee.” he finished speaking the order into the speaker. They pulled up, paid, and were off again with their breakfast in tow. They ate as Sylvain drove them to HQ with a classic rock radio station playing softly to fill the silence. 

“So how did you know that I like caramel in my coffee?” Felix sipped his drink, which was about halfway gone already. 

“Easy, you’ve been ordering it a lot lately with lunch, and sometimes I read the sides of the cups you come in with in the morning. It’s the only flavor I ever see you use, so I figured it must be your favorite.”

Felix took a moment to process it and nodded. So Sylvain  _ was  _ paying attention. They pulled up to the gates of the facility and he didn’t need to show ID. In fact, he didn’t need to show ID anywhere here. He parked the car in a large, open lot surrounded by towering turbines. They made their way into the complex with ease, up an elevator, and to an office at the end of the hallway. The sign on the door read ‘Miklan Gautier, CFO.’

Sylvain’s hand formed a fist, then hesitated for a long moment before finally knocking on the door twice. 

“Who is it?” a gruff voice asked from behind the door.

“Your brother.” Sylvain replied, equally gruff.

The door swung open and there was Miklan. He looked sort of like Sylvain, but more brutish. His face was more aged, and his features were smaller. His red hair was slightly longer than Sylvain’s, and was slicked back. The two brothers looked at one another silently and eventually shook hands. Felix had expected them to hug because Sylvain was usually very touchy, but his relationship with his brother was clearly different. 

“This is my assistant, Felix, he’ll be joining us today.” Sylvain said. Miklan looked him up and down in a way that made him slightly uncomfortable, but he brushed it off; it was nothing he hadn’t experienced before. “Let’s get going, then,” Sylvain continued. 

“Lets.” Miklan started back down the hallway to the elevator, the two of them following. They went down onto the first floor of the building, where they were shown to various rooms filled with everything from big, whirring chunks of tech to people all seated at laptops. Sylvain seemed to know exactly what he was here for. He occasionally sat at a computer and checked something, or tested a piece of equipment. He took notes on his phone as they walked between rooms in the complex. Him and Miklan barely spoke. They made some small talk, but the vast majority of their exchanges were work-related. Felix wandered over to him while Miklan left to use the restroom so he could find out what was going on. 

“Hey…” he strolled over slowly, trying to seem nonchalant. “What’s going on with you two today? It feels tense.” He leaned on the back of Sylvain’s chair. 

“Because it is.” Sylvain said. “We’re not… best friends. I just wanna get the job done, see some of my other friends that work here and get out so we can enjoy the rest of the week here.”

Felix nodded, understanding Sylvain’s desperation. He had a lot to say about older brothers, but he would keep his mouth shut when it came to them two. There was clearly a lot more than just a fun sibling rivalry here. Miklan came back into the room, looked at them, and scoffed.

“Are you almost done in here?”

“Yeah,” Sylvain replied. “Just finishing up the diagnostic for this department’s server. The loading bar on the screen momentarily reached 100%. Sylvain popped a flash drive out of the side and slipped it into his pocket. “Are we going out to the Turbine Field now?”

“Yup.” Miklan opened the door for the two of them and they were out into the cold Minnesota winter once again. He put his coat on, but the quick change in temperature shocked him regardless. They walked behind Miklan in relative silence, and thank heavens they did, because Felix didn’t want to be out here longer than they had to be. 

Miklan began to make some more small talk with them as they trudged their way through the parking lot and towards the field. This time, he included Felix in the conversation. 

“So, how long have you been working for Margrave, Felix?”

He was startled by the sudden acknowledgment. “About half a year now,” he replied. 

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s one of the better jobs I’ve had since graduation.” 

“I would hope so,” Miklan chuckled heartily. “Not every job would have you travelling with the COO after only six months of employment.” Now that sounded like a trap to him. Felix had to tread carefully.

“Yes, I’m very lucky.” he said. He felt Sylvain rest a hand on his back, between his shoulder blades and he knew that he was about to say something impulsive.

“We’ve actually known each other longer than that, so I don’t feel weird travelling with him. It’s certainly better than dragging myself back here alone.”

Miklan was silent for a moment. Anxiety tightened Felix’s chest. “So how did you know each other before?” They had reached the tail end of the parking lot now. Cold wind had chilled his face and left him wishing he had worn a scarf to cover it. The sky seemed to be getting greyer and greyer, hiding the sun completely. 

“I was his… dog walker.” The dejected way that he said it almost made it sound like a lie, but really, he just couldn’t think of what else to say. It felt like any way he and Sylvain realistically could have met would only earn Miklan’s scrutiny. A bar? An event? Anything he could think of had flaws through and through. 

“Oh… interesting. And then he hired you to work for the company instead?”

“I did.” Sylvain interjected. They began to cross a snowy patch of land, gates to the turbine field in sight ahead. As they continued to walk, Felix thought he heard Miklan mumble a response. Apparently Sylvain heard it, too. 

“What was that?” he called ahead.

“Nothing, Sylvain.”

“No, what’d you say Miklan?”

“I said that I can’t believe you just hired some guy and brought him with you here.”

“You always bring someone with you when you come to the New York office. You’ve had plenty of office assistants over the years.”

“I don’t bring…. men.”

Sylvain stopped dead in his tracks, as did Miklan, about five feet ahead of them. Suddenly, Felix knew exactly why Sylvain and his brother didn’t get along. He was instantly very, very worried.

“So what? Felix is my assistant, it’s his job to be here.”

“So you hired him because his dog walking skills were just  _ so  _ indicative of how great of an assistant he would be for you?”

“I hired him because he was a dedicated worker who deserved a better paying job!”

“You know, Sylvain,” Miklan turned around, facing them. “I always knew that you were a faggot, but bringing your boy-toy here is a whole new level of wrong.”

Sylvain stepped up. Felix reached out to grab his hand, but Sylvain was set on moving; their hands barely brushed as Sylvain walked past him, towards his brother. 

“What am I?” he marched up to Miklan with rage in his voice. Miklan looked back at Felix before he answered his brother.

“You’re a  _ faggot _ , Sylvain. And I can’t wait to call up mom and dad and tell them that you hired your dog walker at  _ their _ precious company for no good reason. At least when I hire eye candy it’s for the whole office. You’re disgusting.”

Sylvain’s right hand clenched into a fist. “He isn’t-- Oh, fuck you, Miklan. You pig.” Sylvain spoke through gritted teeth. His fist blurred through the air and hit Miklan right in the jaw. The two brothers immediately broke out into a full-out fight. Felix went into a panic. His family was the passive type, stuff like this never happened in front of him before. He just didn’t know what to do, so he stood there, frozen like an icicle. Miklan pushed Sylvain to the ground in an incredibly violent display. He had to help. He needed to step in. He opened his mouth to yell and he just… couldn’t. Sylvain got on top of Miklan and started wailing on him. It was sort of terrifying. Finally, he felt his vocal chords warming up to speak.

“Sylvain!” he screamed. His feet started moving, breaking out into a run towards the fight. “Syl, come on!” he put his hands on Sylvain’s shoulders and tugged back as hard as he could, but to no avail. They kept swinging and scratching at each other, mumbling curses that Felix couldn’t quite make out. Miklan pulled Sylvain off of him and he tumbled to the ground at Felix’s feet. Miklan lunged back at him landing a solid hit on the side of his face. Sylvain swung his arm back to retaliate, but this time Felix caught it before he could. He held on as tight as he could and dragged Sylvain back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw security leaving the nearby building and running outside. “Come on, we’ve gotta go, Syl.”

Sylvain staggered to his feet, leaning heavily on Felix. As security got closer and closer to Miklan, the two of them made their way to the car. He could hear Sylvain breathing through his teeth, and favoring one leg over the other. They left the car unlocked. Felix helped Sylvain into the passenger seat. He got into the driver’s seat and looked over at Sylvain; he was barely awake over there, bleeding a little bit from his nose and the corner of his mouth. Felix watched as he reached into his pocket and weakly pulled out the keys to the car. 

“Just… don’t take me to the hospital.” he mumbled, closing his eyes and resting his head back on the seat. 

Now was probably an inappropriate time to tell Sylvain that he hadn’t driven a car since high school. He buckled his seatbelt and started the car. He was gonna have to remember how to do this. After reaching over and buckling Sylvain in, he attempted to pull out of the lot. The muscle memory was there, but the icy roads made things really difficult. He feared for his life once or twice, but he had to get Sylvain back to the cabin. He parked the car haphazardly in the driveway and prepared himself to somehow get an unconscious Sylvain inside. 


	5. caramel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter of the fic! I hope you all enjoyed this fast-tracked romance!

It took a few hours for Sylvain to start to stir. Felix watched him go from being out like a light to just a normal sleep, then a light one. He was relatively calm when he woke up, though he looked very disoriented. Felix watched with great concern as Sylvain slowly regained his awareness, looking around at their surroundings, and then finally at him. 

“You’re up.” He kept his voice just as warm as the fire, trying to comfort Sylvain as he spoke. His words lacked their usual edge. Sylvain’s eyes finally focused on Felix, taking him in. Felix leaned over him with his pale face flushed red. His sweater hung loosely off his collarbone and showed the collar of a pale blue t-shirt. 

“Yeah,” Sylvain’s voice drifted off. He winced, blocking out the minimal light in the room for an extended moment. Felix could tell the day’s events started to creep back into his head now-- the vodka on Miklan’s breath, the fucked up things she said, the sting of the cold, the swing of their fists-- Felix could practically see his heart contorting with mixed emotions, pain, embarrassment, sadness. But he still forced a grin. “Did I win?” he asked. 

Felix shook his head and sighed. “No one wins in a fight like that.” His voice was quiet, barely there. He handed Sylvain a glass of water he had waiting for him. “But if you need a recap of what happened, I can do that for you.”

“Please,” Sylvain responded, “By all means.” He took the glass from Felix and took a sip of water. Felix felt bad that the water was lukewarm, but it had been sitting there for a little while now. It didn’t seem to matter to Sylvain though, he eagerly wet his criminally dry lips.

“We were walking over to see the field, your brother mumbled his breath, you asked him what he said, you started arguing, he called you a faggot, you swung at him, and it took me a while to pry you off of him. I got you back here, which was interesting because I haven’t driven a car in years, and now here we are. I have no clue how Miklan is, I saw one of his employees coming out to get him so I assumed it would be fine.”

“Whatever,” Sylvain spat “I hope I fucked him up  _ real _ bad.”

“You shouldn’t--” Felix cut himself off and shook his head. “Actually, you can say that if you want. I’m sorry that your brother is like that. But you didn’t get hurt too badly, you’re gonna have some bruises probably, and I wrapped your wrists but I don’t think anything is broken.”

Sylvain shifted his weight and rolled his wrist to test the pain. Felix didn’t stop him, knowing that the wrap he had put around it was sound. It was a sprain, maybe, at most. “Felix, I--” just as quickly as he had thought of the words they escaped him again. “I don’t even know what to say. I have plenty of friends in high places, but I’ve never had someone care enough to save my ass like that. Not ever.”

Felix gulped. It felt like maybe it was the time now. “Do you remember the staff Halloween party?” he asked abruptly. 

The Halloween party? What did that have to do with anything? “Yeah, sort of. Y’know, parts. Why?”

Felix could feel his throat closing up. Nervousness crept up his windpipe and started to freeze his lips and tongue. He hated feeling powerless like this. He knew what he wanted to say, and he knew he had to say. It was too late to fall back now. “At that party, right before you puked, you told me that you were in love with me.” His voice turned up at the end as if he was asking a question, but it most certainly wasn’t. “And I think--” Felix swallowed, his mouth getting dry-- “I’m in love with you, too. I’m in love with you.”

Felix watched Sylvain’s face unravel. This was the moment of truth. Did he know already and not expect him to reciprocate? Even worse, what if he never meant it in the first place? He would be the one who needed medical care soon, he felt like he was gonna puke up his coffee 

“You don’t have to say anything, I know people say--”

Sylvain leaned up, ignoring the ache in his back, and kissed him. They didn’t pull apart after a few seconds to discuss like they did in the movies, instead they kissed, and kissed, and kissed for minutes that felt like hours. Hands drifted from from cheeks to jawlines, back to ruffled hair and shirt collars. When they finally broke apart Felix was on top of him. His ponytail, usually perfectly in place, was now halfway undone, leaving dark hair hanging down towards Sylvain’s face. He felt himself breathing heavily, in and out, preparing himself to speak.

“I meant it. I’m sorry that I had to be drunk to say it the first time. But you’re really special Felix, and I need you, and I _love you._ ” he said. If that makes me a faggot, then so fucking be it.”

Felix sat back, weight shifting from his wrists all the way back to his knees. He now sat between Sylvain’s legs, which were awkwardly pushed open into a ‘v’ while Sylvain sat propped up on his elbows, looking up at him. He felt an odd feeling start to well up as silence hung in the air. The skin around his eyes got rapidly hot, and started to tighten. For the first time since his Glenn’s funeral, Felix started to cry. He dropped down onto Sylvain’s chest, which caused him to hiss in pain, but he didn’t push Felix away. He wrapped his arms around him and let Felix sit there and bawl his eyes out. His own chest heaved in and out as he struggled to breathe through his tears. 

“I’m… so sorry…” Felix choked out the words, talking right into Sylvain’s dress shirt, leaving drips of saltwater on the pockets. “I should h-have told you sooner, we could have avoided all of this.”

“It’s okay,” Sylvain held him closely, supporting the back of his neck and the small of his back. “I’m sorry that I came onto you drunk and that you had to drag me home from HQ like that.”

“You came onto me sober, too,” Felix laughed through his tears for a moment, lifting his head up to look at Sylvain with a soft smile. “You  _ idiot. _ ”

Sylvain pulled him into another kiss.Felix planted his hands on either side of Sylvain’s head to keep himself steady, but just barely. It was clear that Sylvain didn’t really care, as he was pulling Felix down toward him by the waist.

“So you do think I’m an idiot?” he mumbled against his lips.

“Oh, shut up.” Felix initiated another kiss this time. The heat of the fire warmed his arms. Sylvain started trying to sit up without displacing Felix, and he eventually succeeded. He grabbed the lapels of his coat to remove it, but broke the kiss with a wince. “What’s wrong?” Felix scooted back off of his hips, concerned. 

“I think my shoulder’s fucked up from the fight.’ he groaned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to ruin the moment but  _ Christ _ my shoulder really didn’t like that.” Sylvain scooted back a little, too, sitting up fully. 

“Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?”

“Yes. Yes I am sure. I promise.”

Felix laughed, looking at Sylvain’s face, bathed in an orange glow. He was gorgeous, even when he was beat up. Felix did his best to clean Sylvain up when he brought him home, but there were still traces of blood on his face. It was charming in a way, almost like he was wearing special effects makeup instead of having actual injuries. “You wanna get into a real bed?”

“Only if you come with me.” Sylvain shot him a corny wink. Felix rolled his eyes.

“I just confessed my love to you and cried, and you’re winking at me. Let’s go, Casanova.” Felix stood up and offered Sylvain both of his hands. He took them and slowly forced himself to his feet, and while he didn’t look too happy about it, he kept whatever was ailing him to himself. Felix helped him from the living room to the bedroom, and then into the bed. “So since you’re awake,” Felix climbed onto the bed next to Sylvain, “What’s the deal with you two, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Who, me and Miklan?” he was playing it cool, but Felix knew that Sylvain knew exactly what he meant. “We’ve always had issues. It’s a really long story but I’ll-”

“You don’t have to get into it if you don’t want-”

“No, I do,” Sylvain insisted. “I should have told you before I came, I wasn’t thinking.” Sylvain settled down against the pillows, looking up at the wooden ceiling of the bedroom. The lights were off but the dull daylight still crept through the curtains. “Miklan has never liked me. He wanted to be an only child and he always made sure that I knew that. There’s just something… wrong with him. He did a lot of really fucked up things to me when we were younger. Not just the normal brother rough-housing, no… sometimes I thought he wanted to kill me. When we went camping once he left me in the middle of a trail ‘by accident’ and it took me hours to find camp again.”

“How old were you?” Felix asked softly.

“Six.”

“You didn’t tell your parents or anything?”

“They were busy running the company, they were never around except for when we went on vacation, really.”

“Well shit. So are they all homophobes, or just Miklan.”

“I’m bi, actually. My parents don’t entirely understand, but they don’t care too much. Miklan was the one who outed me when I was in high school.”

“I’m sorry.” Felix’s heart ached for him. He had always known that Sylvain was hiding a lot of pain. His humor made it sickeningly obvious. His jokes were often at the expense of himself, rarely others. And he treated people with a casual yet immense kindness. At work he was always willing to buy lunch, let you go early because you had an appointment, or give you a helping hand when you were upset. To Felix, it felt like he was always trying to compensate for the way he had been treated elsewhere. Now he knew that he was right all along. “Can I… ask you one more thing?” After this he would change the subject, but there was one more thing he just needed to know.

“I’m an open book.” Sylvain said. 

Felix sat up a little bit, nervous. “Did you really just hire me because you were into me?”

Sylvain looked at him completely dumbfounded. “No, no, of course not.”

“So then why?”

“Well there are a few reasons, and it’s gonna sound stupid.” Felix tilted his head and looked at Sylvain with sheer curiosity in his eyes. He sat up, too, and then began his explanation. “Mostly I knew we were looking for someone. I’d heard Ingrid talking about it around the office and I just played it cool when we first talked about it, and I was also pretty tipsy. But the other reason… I always trusted you. Bongo usually doesn’t like new people but when you came on your first day he came up to you like an old friend. I know it sounds dumb but that always stuck with me. So when I found out you were struggling I knew I had to get you an interview.”

Felix sat there for a moment quietly processing what he had been told.

“And yeah, I did think you were cute, but so what?”

He laughed and wrapped Sylvain into a hug. Sylvain knew better than to protest, and the two sat there in comfortable silence. 

“You changed my life, you know.” Felix finally mumbled into Sylvain’s shoulder. “I thought I was gonna be stuck at that coffee shop forever and die as a disappointment.”

“Well you… fixed me. I had such a hard time getting work done before I had you around to impress. I thought that my parents were gonna fire me.”

“Can your own parents fire you?” Felix was trying not to laugh, but the thought of getting a call from your mom, expecting just a quick hello, and then getting fired from your job made it really hard for him not to. 

“They totally can.” Sylvain giggled. “They had Ingrid watching me like a hawk last Spring, I could have sworn they were thinking about it.”

“Do you think they’ll be mad when Miklan calls them about today?” Felix sat back so that he could see Sylvain again.

“Only because he’s interrupting their vacation. They’ll always take my word over his, I’m the favorite.”

Then Felix laughed. The confidence in his voice juxtaposed with the craziness of the situation was undeniably funny to him. “I hope they’ll like me then. As an employee, at least, but maybe in relation to you as well?” He wasn’t really sure he was asking, but he prayed that Sylvain would have the right answer. 

“Felix Fraldarius, are you asking me out?” he mocked.

Felix felt blush well up in his cheeks. “What if I was?”

“Then I’d have to fire you.” Felix’s mouth hung open in confusion, unsure of what to say to that. “Kidding. I’m kidding, Felix.” Felix sighed in relief, heart pounding in his chest. “To that I would say let’s go out tonight. I know the best restaurants in town.” Felix finally felt better, though he wasn’t quite hungry yet. 

“I would love to,” he said. “Although,” Felix glanced over at the clock, which read just past three o’clock in the afternoon. “Isn’t a little early for dinner.”

“Oh, it absolutely is, but that just means we have time to kill. Whatever shall we do with it?” Sylvain mused. 

Felix replied deadpan. “Didn’t you just get beat to a pulp and driven home unconscious?”

“I guess you’ll just have to play nurse then,” he smirked. “Get over here.”


End file.
